The Darkest Gate
by Ravyn
Summary: In a time where the Inner Kingdoms have crumbled and the Darkness rules, when the only hope was for lost a Princess and the Rainbow Crystals, love is all that can unit them. But can they see past there pride. Senshi/Generals!
1. Default Chapter

Well since writers block has decided to kick in EVERY OTHER STORY I HAVE STARTED, my muses have decided to start another fiction. Crappy I know but at least you are getting somthing right? 

I have not abandoned Day Care or Dreams and I plan on updating them as soon as possible. Basketball is really hectic and the Flu is going around, and I rebusted my knee, so as you can imagine writing has not been on the top of my list.

I hope this chapter can hold all you great reader over just a few more days!

Ravyn

PS: I do not own Sailor Moon. Thank you.

It had begun with the breaking of the great chasm, nearly one hundred thousand years ago. The Great War that had been fought of the ownership of the universe had been played out for thousand of years. The Planets had been involved in a all out war among races, the earth was the strong point for the Darkness and the Moon was the base that directed it attack against the evil that festered there.

It had all ended with the death of the first Serenity. By using her life force and the power that the moon held in and of itself she created the Silver Crystal. Her daughter, barely a hands breath over a two decades old took up her mother's life force and beat the enemy back in the Black gates. Using the gift her mother had created she forged the alliance of planets. Using the crystal she healed the destruction that had been left by the Darkness. Once the Kingdoms of the Planets had been purged she set her eyes to the earth and strove to heal it as well.

But it was not to be done.

The Crystal had drained her and she had not the strength to bear the weight of the Earth as well so she took a husband and bore a daughter. And the other Planets also bore children. The little Princess was given companions out of the many children that the Kings and Queens bore for her mother was fading from the constant energy she pore into the forging of the Kingdom. 

Eventually she died at a young age for that line of Queens.

But the Princess had had time to grow and mature and did so with strength that had been forged out of the bonds that linked her to the other children of the planets. And when the time came the Daughters that had been raised with the Princess -now Queen- they to became Queens over their lands.

And so the tradition of the Senshi was created. And as each Royal family became tuned with their Royal Planet they learned to read the gifts that the Planets blessed them and they learned to harness the power that the First Serenity had forged. And as they grew in power so did there life spans. And they grew to be great.

But Earth was still left in darkness. And it festered until the Second Great War broke out. And it was a bitter battle that once again left the Universe in ravages, and it showed no signs of stopping until a Prince of a line long forgotten rose up and lead his people against the heart of the Darkness that festered. His name was Endymion and he wielded a great power in the shape of a Golden Crystal that was said to be the tears of the earth. And with this Second Crystal came great power to the lines of Earth until they struck the Darkness back and rose in the ranks of its Sister Planets. 

Been the Darkness had only been driven back and it longed for the chance to take the crystals and hurl the lines of Serenity and Endymion into the darkness. And so it festered and waited until it gained the strength enough to launch its greatest attack on the creatures that it so hated. And it took the form of a woman and her wrath was terrible, and something happened that it did not expect. The form it choose longed for a companion and it longed for someone to share its darkness with, and when she laid her eyes onto the form of the Prince who had risen in his father and grandfathers place, who wielded the power of the Golden Crystal she longed for him. 

But Serenity had also seen the Golden Prince and her heart also desired him, and he returned the longing with a fierceness that turned the Universe upside down. But the Darkness was enraged and did not allow the lovers to be together. And Endymion and Serenity drove the Darkness back again and they forged a gate, the Black gate, and it locked the Kingdom of Darkness in its pit. But the Universe had been once again pushed beyond its brink of coping and Endymion and Serenity where forced to push themselves apart.

They spent the long length of their lives longing for each other, but there people needed stability and not foreign alliances with other planets. Both married inside there own court and loved there spouses even if the large chunk of there souls where no longer with them. There Children carried on the lines forgetting about the Prince and Princess who had sworn to find each other some day in some way.

And the Moon and the Earth and all the planets that fell under their rule grew complacent. During the Great Alliance the Earth had taken the Outer Planets under its rule and Moon had take the Inner. The Universe had been so ravaged that the Planets had to be divided and so both the Earth and the Moon, with the greatest power sources, and been forced to take on the responsibility.

And they had.

But in the years of piece the rulers forgot the threat the Gate was to remind them of, of the Darkness that the Human Soul was capable of.

And as the Moon and Inner Planets celebrated the new birth of Royalty the Black Gates began to crack. By the time the Royal Princess had reached the Age of 10 they had been ripped open by forces that could not be contained. The Earth itself had only young heirs of 16 years and the control of the Outer Planets was last with the Earth as the Royal family's where slaughtered.

The Dark shadow then moved on to the one place it hated the most. The moon. It attacked with a brutality that shocked what was left of civilization. In a desperate move to protect the young Princess Serenity the Ruling Queen shattered the crystal into seven pieces and placing two of them into the Royal Children using it power to alter there looks so that they could be hidden in the wreckage of the Planets. The other three she sent to the last safe haven the Darkness could never touch. Pluto.

The Queen then used what little magic she had by her own right to seal the Secrets of the Senshi far from Beryl's seeking gaze and prayed that her daughter could use the keys she had left for her to someday be able to correct her mother's mistake.

And the Darkness spread until it had covered the entire Universe and Beryl ruled as the supreme master of all life. But her victory was an empty one, for although she now ruled what her black soul had always craved she could never posses the Silver Crystal for its bits where scattered across the universe, and the Golden Crystal had disappeared with the death of the old King. 

The heirs to the Five thrones of earth had been presumed dead but the bodies had never been found. It was said that only the true High King of Earth could find the hidden power source that had added in driving her back once.

But a lone seer had warned Beryl before her death of her impending doom. She had warned her to kill all the Royal Children because if just one had lived then one day she would fall.

But instead of one ten lived. The Royal Princess of the Moon, and her inner court, all altered beyond recognition all changed in face and form. All carrying a power far greater than even the blessings of the Planets. 

The Five Princes of Earth, rulers of the Outer Realms, all breathed as well. And they roamed in a pack that traveled with more knowledge than simple ten-year-old children left with only vague memories of power. They had also heard the legend of the Seer and they sought the Princess and her court even as Beryl did.

~*~

Mamoru paced the short length of his room; rooms that he had been forced to hold secret councils in for close the ten years. No more a child of Sixteen but a man of twenty, a man who was the mirror image of the beloved father that had been killed in the vindictive hands of a witch.

He had been forced to give up the name Mamoru just as his four companions had been forced to change theirs. They could give Beryl nothing to track them by, for ten years had not softened her memory. 

She still-hunted, in the darker corners of the world, for any sign of them. Any print they could have left. She never truly believed that they had died, no matter what attention had been given to the details. 

Just as she refused to believe in the death of the final piece of her undoing.

Serenity.

"You know one day I would like my searches to take me somewhere clean, where I can bath and dress properly, where I do not have to worry if my rags have been beaten enough to look authentic. I prefer to worry about weather or not my outfit has been pressed enough to look authentic." Jason complained as he threw himself into an old wooden chair that had seen more abuse than any other item in the small room.

"But then we would not be able to hear all about it when you get back." Zachary commented as he closed to ancient texts he was trying to decipher in annoyance. 

"You would be gone the entire night with some pretty Lady and never come home."

Jason shrugged unrepentedly. "At least the Ladies can appreciated my good looks even if you four cannot." At 6"2 and blond with eyes the color of dark sky he caught the attention of many of women. Even with his hair darkened with mud and his shoulders stooped with that of a bent man he was still imposing.

"Get over it." Nathan commented form the corner where he was stretched out. He long legs where thrown onto the table with a pose of boredom.

"Did you find anything?" Kris demanded in his lower tones as he too look up from a script.

"Nothing we don't know. This one was apparently at the final battle though. He was one of the guards that defended the castle from attacks. He says the Queen did shatter he crystal and all he can remember is the fragments heading into the little Princess and then the rest just flat out disappearing. He says that when after that there was some bright color show and they where just gone. There was no evidence of any kind that they had been there." Jason shrugged. "Nothing new there."

Kris sighed. "So even after ten years we have no place to look."

Zach held up his hand. "I am not sure about that. I have been studying all the ancient texts that have survived the wars and I think I may have found a clue."

The men all dropped in the similar poses that Nathan had. 

" The Inner Senshi are bound to the planets in a similar way the Endymion is. We to are bound but more to Endymion that any particular planet, since our power comes from him, earth, and the outer planet we will one day had jurisdiction over."

"But the Inner Princess are bound directly to there Planets and then to the Princess. They gather their energy straight form whichever planet it is that they are bound to. When Serenity unleashed the crystal and gave her daughter and each of the four guardians a fragment she bound them more tightly to the moon than any have been before. She also increased their power tenfold. Even if the Princess should collected the fragments there will always be an echo of that power in them so they will always be much stronger then they should have been. I have also found evidence to support the fact that each Princess was sent back to her own planet because only by being on there home soil could they control the after affects of having a fragment of the Silver Crystal in them."

"But where would the Princess have gone?" Kris questioned easily, his brain processing that information. 

"Because of the binding that the Crystal would give them I would say that she got dragged into on the portals. Whichever Senshi had the closets piece of Crystal, of the most attraction to her fragment, she would have been pulled in with her. I would place a lot of money on the fact that the Senshi are all on their home planets."

"But how are we going to track them. Everyone says that the crystals altered their appearance. They no longer look like what they wold have." Mamoru demanded.

"Well we have half the Golden Crystal right?" Zach questioned. They all nodded in agreement. The other half was sealed somewhere in the Castle Beryl now ruled from.

"Well the energy should be similar to that of the Silver. If we look for residue that anything that powerful leaves behind by using our knowledge of the Golden Crystal then we should be able to track them."

~*~

Mina stood hidden in the darker shadows of the temple, her simple beggars dress hiding every inch of her figure from prying eyes of the men who sought more than she was willing to give out. Behind her she felt only the slightest stirring telling her that Usagi was right behind her.

Since the fall of the Royal family some ten years before the crown city of Venus, Erodon, named after the first high King Eros, had fallen into shambles. The once golden temple was now dull and the every lit golden torch had long since given out. 

"Mina, how much longer?" Usagi hissed her voice low with a tenseness that most women of 20 never held. Or at least that they used to never hold, not even babies seemed to wilt under the sun.

"As soon as I make sure that the guards are no longer chasing us." Mina hissed right back, her pale blue eyes scanning the crowds around them. Her thick dirty blond hair was pulled into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. 

Usagi smaller frame was pressed as far against the wall as she mange, her own pale eyes scanning as well. Her fall of ash colored hair was also pulled into a tight bun and the women looked around searching for the guards that searched for them.

To live on the street you lived like rat. Steeling what was edible and learning how to keep men and boys with the nastier thoughts in their heads beaten back. If anyone attempted to rough handle either woman they would have received a nasty shock.

Both were skilled in hand to hand combat, years of training that a old man had offered when they had stumbled onto his door step some seven years ago beaten and bloody. Both had been fast learners and learned everything he could teach them before he died. 

Mina favored a sword if she could get her hands on one, but Usagi liked to use a simple pairing knife, discovering that her small size and quick wrists made her very good at fast moves. 

But right now they were trying to conceal the bread they had stolen and avoid the guards. When Minako had decided they had given up the chase both woman moved along the Temple till they came to a place where they could eat the slightly stale loaf in peace.

"You know Mina," Usagi said around a mouthful, " Its getting harder to find something to barrow without having to worry about putting someone else in debt."

Mina nodded. "What can we do? Beryl and her hordes or dark armies only care for themselves and only wish to devour each of these kingdoms one by one. There is very little that we can do."

Usagi sighed and fiddled with a strand of ash colored hair, its paleness a shade to dark to be silver, but to light to be gray. " I know. It's just that I have this feeling that we should be DONIG something about it, you know?"

Mina nodded her head slowly, her eyes distant. In her mind she could see her mother, blond and tall with eyes the color or dark sapphires. She could also see her mother dancing with a tall blond man there dresses rich with color and jewels. 

Whoever her mother had been she had been important and she could do something about the situation.

"I know Usagi."

~*~

A figure quickly bolted down the street as the echoing footsteps followed. Rei put on an extra burst of speed that sent her coffee colored hair flying behind her and her long legs to stretch to her limit. 

Sometimes being a decoy sucked.

She could hear the Dark Soldiers cursing behind her and she smirked. She had been running this route, in the ruins, since she was a child of 12. These morons who thought themselves so smart where suck idiots. 

Never chase a native of the Martian ruins through the ruins.

It should have been rule one in the guide book but someone forgot to enlighten the assholes behind it, and all she had to do was keep far enough ahead of them to lead them into the trap.

There they would get what they deserved.

There had been massive reports of beating and raping in this part of town, and no nice girl would be caught out on the streets at this late hour, much less on this side of the Temple.

But nice was never a word that she used in referring to herself. She liked the words bitch, cold and determined. With the Dark armies taking more and more control and stealing lives the way people stole food was disgusting.

And Rei, the only one left of the Royal bloodline, would do every tiny thing she could to stop it. 

It was a fluke she knew a fluke that she remembered when Serenity had done everything to protect them, even making them forget. But she simple had not counted on a single aspect of the power of the Martian planet. The Senshi of Mars was also a priestess, and with that came dreams.

And with dreams came memories.

It took time, but Rei remember everything to having a fragment of the Silver Crystal embedded in herself, the reason her coloring and form had been altered. She knew, in a half sense sort or way, that once her Princess gained control of the shards then she would be returned to the Princess she had once been.

But until then she had soldiers to kill and plans to destroy. Every day she was one step closer to finding the others. But until then she could take the time to ambush some rapping bastards.

~*~

Ami sighed as she closed the book in front of her. Tutoring may have given her the money she needed to stay alive, but honestly. Some of these children could be absolute brats. 

Running a hand through her black hair that she kept cropped close Ami allowed her dark blue eyes to slide shut. Her face was to pale, her freckles too stark to be cute, but that was okay.

She may have been slightly above the status of beggar but that did not mean she got the protection of the upper class, or the wives of soldiers, did. She pities the beautiful girls she did not envy them.

Sighing Ami dismissed the children who where paying absolutely no attention to the fact that she was teaching them the past of the planet they would day supposedly help rule.

Ami was someone who never took much stock on what other people thought but she knew somehow that the future was going to take a dramatic change for the better soon.

She knew it with the core of her bones that something was coming. She had no idea what or where, but she knew it was looking for her and that it would be there soon.

~*~

Lita leaned down and allowed the simple tears to poor from her toffee colored gaze as she was forced to bury one more person she had loved. It was becoming a random thing for her to do.

Maybe she should just start going and collecting bodies and burying them because of it could be become an art them she was doing a damn good job perfecting it.

Tossing back her shoulder length dark brown hair she stretched her six-foot frame and watched the harsh winds slowly toss the clumps of dirt around. The dried and dead petals from flowers that had died many days ago fluttered by her feet with something of a melancholy air.

Raising her toffee colored eyes to the heavens. One day she would win against this force. But until then her tears would always be silent. 

A simple reminder that everything had slipped through her fingertips never to return.

~*~

Pluto stood still in the Temple that she had been forced to lock herself in for the past ten years. Two simple crystals danced in front of her, their bright colors mocking her in an endless manner.

Closing her dark garnet eyes she sighed.

Wherever the Princess was, she was going to have to fight this on her own.


	2. Figuratively Speaking

Another chapter! Yay! I know this is long awaited and that you all want my other stories updated fast, and I am trying, and now that all playoffs are done I should have more time! I am not making any promises but I will get them out as soon as possible! This is a really long chapter for me, almost 20 pages, and it would be longer but I find it more fun to torture you guys! Just kidding!

Thanks goes to all those who reviewed!

Ravyn

Disclaimer: I do not own.

Mamoru stood on the edge of Mercury with Zach and allowed his eyes to scan the frozen landscape. His dark blue eyes matched the frozen hemisphere perfectly and he tossed an annoyed glance at his friend. "I believe the reason that the people on this planet are so smart is because they have little else to do around here. It's all ice."

Zach tossed him an amused smile. "That's until you get into there doom cities. They are held together by the Mercurian magic and technology. The mage's and the royal family used to work together. What we are going to see is simply going to be a faint echo of what this place can really be."

Mamoru shook his dark head. "Does Beryl care anything about the cultures that she destroys?" 

Zach shook his fair head. "No. She only cares about power and the potential that she will gain from it. When she went through and destroyed the royal families she gave little thought to what the results would be for the planet." Zach looked at his friend and gave a faint grin. "I actually have a theory as to why the planets are still in the condition they are in considering everything that has happened to them."

Mamoru gave a small smile as he continued to scan the area around him. He began to pick out large circle dooms now that he was able to see through the swirling ice and snow. Once the planet turned the ice would turn and it would become bloody hot. "Enlighten me."

"Some of the dooms are holding out better than the others, so I think the better the dooms the closer the Princess is. I am going to bet that the place with the most upper class women is the one that the Princess is in."

Mamoru turned and looked at his friend. "But that would be rather risky of Selene to place one of the Royal Princesses in high society isn't it?"

Zach turned around with a faint smile. "Who said anything about her being High Society? They need lots of things to live. Such as maids, gardeners, or a tutor."

Mamoru shook his head. "So your saying we need to check the servant area first in our search."

"Yes. It's quite brilliant actually. The Mercurian Princess is always the advisor, so if she lives as a servant she will best know how to deal with the kingdoms needs and there is also the added bonus of being able to come up with solutions someone raised in a High House would not think of."

"Do you always come up with the analogies?" Mamoru asked as he began to move forward.

"Yes. And where are you going?" 

"By using the half of the crystal I have I have located the most powerful doom. If your conclusions I have decided we will start there since you seem to think that it would be the most likely place for her to be."

Zach smiled. He followed his liege and for once was thankful for the golden glow that surrounded them and kept the freezing conditions away.

~*~

Ami sighed as she piled all her books together. She looked at the young girl in front of her and smiled. " I think that is enough for today Ming. Be sure to study for your test on simple element compounds. I will give you a pop quiz in the next few days."

The pale skinned and dark haired child grinned showing off two missing teeth. "Yes Miss Ami."

Ami sighed as placed everything into the bag she was carrying. She just shook her head as Ming nodded and then took off out of the room skipping. Ami followed at a more sedated pace as she moved forward. A servant one of the families personal ones stopped her. "Miss, Lord Haren would like to have a word to you." The young man looked straight ahead his lips pulling into a half smirk.

Ami visibly paled. Lord Haren was the eldest of the children who's father employed her. She had only met him once and hoped never to do it again. He was well known in her taste for women, of any shape or size, and the blazing feeling of dread in her stomach was forming a hard knot.

"Where did the Lord say he would care to have a word?" Ami questioned softly, never once loosing her Ice façade. 

"In the back parlor. Miss." The young man answered, his eyes glinting with cold glee.

Ami clutched the bag closer to her chest. She followed the male servant and pressed her full bottom lips to her top one in a thin line. The scarce amount of freckles that lined her small slightly upturned nose stood out even more on her pale face.

Ami walked in and looked around the room as she continued to clutch at her bag. She gulped when she saw a thin man with a narrow set of shoulders and a profile that resembled a triangle. His hooknose stood out against his narrow chin. Lord Haren was not an attractive man, which was more than likely the reason that he used woman like refundable toys.

"My Lord whishes to see me?" Ami questioned her tone was timid at best. 

"Yes. Ami I presume?" He tried to accent her name but it came out more a hiss than anything else did.

Ami nodded.

He turned then and ran his eyes over her form with eyes that looked to close. "There is a very simple reason that I decided to have a word with you."

Ami licked her lips nervously. 

" You know Ming is the last of my siblings. And soon she will be needed a Higher Learned tutor soon." Ami held back protest on that. She was the Highest-ranking Tutor in the Doom that is why she had been brought in. 

So she simply said nothing.

"Unless I can convince father that you would work instead." He turned and pinned her with his small and beady black eyes.

"Convince?" Ami questioned a queer feeling a déjà vu coming to mind. "How?" She really did not want to know, but she needed the money to be able to continue living her in small but well kept home.

"You a very attractive woman Ami." He hissed, his form moving closer. Ami's eyes widened in horror. And when he leaned in and attempted to kiss her she reacted. Taking the bag that held several books, some for tutoring, some for reading, and slammed it into his face.

He gave a startled yelp and reached out and grabbed her by the sleeve. Ami felt panic pull at her senses and she lashed out with the only other force she had. Her hands went flat against his chest and it felt like her fingers were bleeding, but instead of blood, cool blue ice rolled down his chest. 

Ami looked up and stared at the man with her dark navy eyes wide. Turning she raced out of the room like her pants were on fire. Getting out of the house into the street she turned and ran as fast as her short legs would let her. She just ran allowing the wind in her hair to guide her.

Ami kept going, not even allowing herself to look at where she was headed. Turning a corner she leaned against the wall and breathed in and out deeply. She attempted not control her rapid breathing and felt herself begin to shake. 

~*~

Mamoru slithered through the shadows with Zach as they kept a close 'eye' on the air around them. So far this part of the city was practically brimming with magic. 

"Something has happened." 

It was stating the obvious. Mamoru knew it as soon as he said it, and the look that his green-eyed friend gave him told him he to was aware of it. But Mamoru was far to interested in the charge that was rolling through the air. 

" Mamoru." Zach said moving quickly behind his friend, his voice muffled by the scarf he had acquired at some point in the trip. "Do you think that you can be even more obvious in your statements? Yes the fact that people running around with some type of weapons and magical tracking devices searching desperately would be the first clue that something had happened. The fact that most of these people are Black Earth Soldiers is a real big tip off." He sighed. "But I don't think its us."

Mamoru grunted as he pulled himself over a railing. "You think they are on the Princess trail."

"Oh Goddess, I hope not." Zach breathed. He stopped suddenly and looked around. "Do you here that?"

Mamoru mimicked his friend's movements and looked around. "Its sounds like a struggle." He narrowed his eyes. "Some of those movements are very light sounding, it could be a woman."

Zach let out a low growl. " It had better not be."

~*~

Ami whimpered as she moved into the shadows. They're where three of them, Black Soldiers. Even the main dooms it seemed where no longer safe, she had not idea how she had gotten into this situation except that once she had stopped running from whatever demons had been chasing her footsteps she had wondered around and attempted to find her way back home.

She had somehow found herself in the darker parts of the Doom. Not a place to be if you were a young woman or man even in these parts. You could get jumped and taken into a back alley and loose whatever it was you had to offer. Be it your maidenhood or you money. Black Earth Soldiers had not authority to keep them in check and they did whatever they wanted.

Period.

Which was why she was being tossed around like a doll between three of them. They seemed to think it was some type of game, and Ami was beyond terrified. Her body had gone into some type of shock and she was shaking so bad her legs where going to give at any moment. But that would have left her in the arms of one of the soldiers.

Until she was jerked out of the mocking circle and pushed back by a man with eyes of the palest green she had ever seen. Right then they where hard and looked like green ice. 

"Stay put." He whispered his voice so low it was almost non-existent. He turned back around and joined another dark haired man who was currently knocking around the three soldiers. Ami watched in a shocked fascination as they moved with a speed and skill she had never seen before. In a matter of a few moments the men were laying on the ground comatose. 

Ami shrank into the wall when they turned and looked at her. The only glow came from the torches that sent half shadows across their faces. Ami was simply terrified.

Zach turned and looked at the woman who was leaning against the wall with the look of terror plastered to her face. The first thing he noticed was how small she was, she barley reached his chest. Her dark navy eyes stood out against the stark white of her face. Her pitch colored hair contrasted with the white skin of her face. 

"Are you alright miss." Zach questioned softly, whoever this women was she gave the impression that she was going to break if he said anything above gentle tone. 

Ami continued to stare at the men that had taken not one but three Black Earth Soldiers, soldiers that mutilated for the heck of and took high ranking woman and children for there own purposes. 

She was more frightened of them than she was of the chance of getting caught for accidentally freezing her Lord. Something she had yet to figure out how she had done it. 

"Zach, we can't stay here for long, we are gonna attracted attention soon." 

"We can't just leave her Mamoru." The one who had the green eyes commented, his eyes never leaving the tiny person next in front of him. There was something about her that was eye catching but he could not put his finger on it.

"What do you suggest we do, Zach, we can't bring her with us." Mamoru said, exasperation in his voice. 

"Who are you?" There was faint sound noise, and they both turned and examined the trembling figure in front of them. 

"We are not here to hurt you lady." Zach said kindly. He watched as a she took a shuddering breath and froze a fraction of a second before they did. His eyes flicked forward and he found himself looking toward a group of people moving toward them. The woman beside him shrunk even lower.

Zach looked at Mamoru who let out a groan/sigh. "Let's move."

Zach reached over and grasped the woman by the waist and tossed her over his shoulder and took off, Mamoru right in front of him.

'Isn't it Jason's job to run off with a dark haired woman thrown over his shoulder?"

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 

Jason stood on the hill, one of the many, overlooking the broken landscape of the once great Martian capitol. His ocean colored gaze scanned the jagged scene in front of him and he allowed a small smirk to grace his lips. 

For once he was in the land of a thousand brunettes and fiery tempers, and he was forced to keep his hands to himself. He was forced to pretend that he did not see the long legs and long hair and even longer lashes. He was forced instead to send ever ounce of energy to finding some Princess whom probably was completely docile. Which was a sad thing in and of itself.

The Martian Princess in past years was said to be the fire put into human form, with a temper and a fire that would burn any man to cinders. Challenges like no other woman who ever breathed. Someone who would sear a man. 

But it seemed as if that fire had burned out long ago. No Princess would allow this to happen to her planet, she would not allow a single soldier to walk unchallenged on _her _planet. No man who dared to rise against her would live and breath if such a fire still existed.

Jason let his feet begin to wonder down the path and sighed to himself. Walking the path of fallen ash was a saddening thing. All around him where broken graves that had been set here in a time of hundred of years. This was a soldier's graveyard, desecrated by the hands of Beryl and her Black soldiers. 

Jason turned round and looked for any sign of someone else living beside himself. And to his surprise he saw a small form standing against the harsh wind, her long chocolate locks flowing around her, her pale skin stark under the double moons over head. 

Jason walked over slowly wondering what a woman would be doing in a place like this. None of the graves where new in any sense of the term. Now if you wished for a fallen loved one not to be turned into one of the walking dead you burn them on the spot. No time for songs of love and hope to see them again, just simply allowing fire to eat everything that your loved one had been to be eaten away.

"Its dangerous to be out at this time, you never know what will rise out of the shadows." She told him as he drew up to her. She turned inky dark eyes on him, firmness to her mouth and chin that told him she was stubborn. 

"For all of those who wander these times it is dangerous, shadows or not." Jason replied. "But for a Lady those dangers increase."

"Show me a Lady who will grace the night with her footsteps and I will show you a hundred who hide behind there titles. Tell me what does a man of your origin do on a night like this. You are to fair and pale to be from this cursed land."

"The Lady sees much." Jason commented, never taking his eyes from her face, or mouth, which seemed to quirk slightly at his insistence to call her a Lady. "But a man like myself does whatever man does I think. He searches."

"Searching can get you into a situation you do not wish to be in." Her low voice warned. 

"True. Tell me what are you doing walking the paths of the dead at such and hour." Jason questioned hoping to find an answer to his question.

"Perhaps it is not only the living that search. This grave is that of a warrior who once stood at the breaking of the darkness, he stood as the Dark Gate was raised, stood to watch the light fight for a chance to grow. He joined hundreds of thousands of nameless faces and souls who lost their ability to fight with their bodies and allowed his spirit to offer hope to those who needed it." Her long fingered hand moved in front of her as she spoke accenting words that her slightly accented common speech provided. "Perhaps you are not the only person searching for something."

"Hope. Something that is illusive in this time."

Jason looked at the woman as she sighed. "Illusive but not gone. Perhaps because of these soldiers we will one day find a way to send back the night."

Jason tossed his bangs out of his hair and looked at the clean line of the woman's brow and raked a hand through his moonlit blond locks. "Only those of royal blood can call the dead to there hand Lady."

She turned then, and he felt the full intensity of her inky eyes, which for some reason seemed out of place on her pale face. Her dark chocolate hair fell around her features. "Sometimes blood is not enough, even in the ancient lines."

She looked toward the sky, and her eyes did not fall on the twin moons, but toward where the Earth's moon was. " And sometimes it is more than we could hope for. The question is simply finding it."

Jason stared at her for a long time. " Who are you Lady?" His tone was soft but commanding, and her eyes flared for a brief moment.

"One who knows the meaning of secrets, fair one. You had best be careful, for the living dead walk this graveyard, and nothing but fire and water can destroy them, and neither are found in ready amounts."

Jason started to say something when the woman turned and cursed. She reached out and grabbed his hand, yanking him firmly forward. "Living dead and Earth soldiers. We must run." She told him over her shoulder as her long hair cascaded over their combined hands.

Jason grunted a answer as he concentrated on the rocky ground he found himself pulled over and wondered what the strange electricity running down his arm had to do with the woman who was currently dragging him across Mars. He had seen woman more attractive that was for sure, but there was a curious flame in her eyes that pulled him like no other had.

But right now he had to worry about living. Living dead where problems enough, much less Earth's Black soldiers. He could hear them gaining and new my by the veniment cursing that were coming from the slip of a woman in front of him that she knew it to.

"We are going to fight." Jason called. He was starting to feel winded and that was saying something. He could think of a certain obsessive leader who would have his head if he ever told him.

"We are almost there." 

"Almost where." Jason questioned when they suddenly turned to face a blank wall. Jason let out his own curses when the woman placed her hand on the wall and began to speak in rapid Martian. Jason wished he knew what she was saying when it suddenly melted in itself. He was yanked inside and then it reformed behind him, just in time.

Fire suddenly flared up and the dark haired angel was holding a torch. He had no idea how she had lit it, but she motioned for him to follow. 

"What is this place." Jason questioned out loud. He had never asked so many questions since his last assignment. 

"This is a ancient passage to the Temple. It will take right into the heart of the city, hopefully there you can get some clothing to cover that blonde head of yours." 

"My name is Jason." 

"Excuse me?"

"I am named Jason. I was wondering you would care to call me something besides blonde or stranger. So my name is Jason." His ocean blue eyes glinted with amusement.

"Rei."

"So, Rei, how did you know of this place." Jason wondered if he had been handed what he was looking for on an open plate.

"You could say my family has been connected to this Temple for many years. My Grandfather was high Priest before the breaking of the Gate. He thought it best if I knew my way around."

"But the Temple was destroyed many years ago." Jason commented.

"Yes. The Temple has been destroyed, but what made the Temple so great sill exists. Just because what cased it is gone does not mean the fire of Mars is gone. Beryl is a fool if she thinks so."

Jason studied the back of her head." That's very dangerous talk to throw around if you say to it the wrong person."

Rei turned her dark eyes on him and they where lit with amusement. "Do you think I would have brought you with me if I thought you worked for her? You have nothing in you that is as black as she is."

'But you did not say I am no black.' He thought to himself and contented himself in keeping up with the little box in front of him that fate had handed him. At the very least she might be able to help him with his quest.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Mina tossed her long dirty blonde braid over her shoulder and watched in amusement as a little boy took the distraction she was offering and stole a bruised apple from the vender cart. Mina continued to barter him as if she saw nothing and chewed on her bottom lip and sighed dramatically and named his price to high still.

Usagi stood next to her, her own messy golden hair wrapped neatly in a braid. She was carrying a basket they had stolen from some soldier's wife and was now carrying it around filling it with things that had bartered for.

Mina turned her head slightly when she felt eyes on her and met a pair of ice gray eyes. Mina shrugged it off and went on with her act of servent. So far things had been working out and no suspected a thing. 

They had gotten the gold and the basket from Usagi's quick fingers, the smaller girl blending into background much easier than Minako. Even though her hair and face did not catch anyone's eyes, her tall form did. 

"Mina," Usagi whispered using the high Venusian they had been taught at the base of the broken by a blinded woman, who needed to share her knowledge, "There is man watching us."

" I know." Mina responded as she paid for the last of the bandages she had decided they would need. "But we must not let on that we know."

Usagi nodded and moved back. Her large almost colorless eyes looked around the market and she had he feeling that something bad was going to happen. She had nicked a parchment and some pens for Mina to draw on, the girl's one good hobby, and was worried that the man with gray eyes had seen her.

He was taller than any man Usagi had seen before with ash white hair that feel to his shoulders and eyes that saw too much for her liking. He carried an air of authority you normally placed with the Black Soldiers. He was not watching them with open hostility though, only intent. And that was far more dangerous.

Mina and her had been taught by a dying Priestess far more than they should have been. They could both read and write the Venusian and Lunarian of the ancient lines and they could do it well. And both had enough combat experience to get themselves out of most situations.

No it was best if no one knew who they where at any time.

Mina and her had plans to wonder the ancient courtyards today to see if they could find any clues to help with the restoration of the Temple and the high houses. The Royal family had to have some type of family members that had survived. They had to. It was the only way they would beat Beryl back. What was left of the priestess line was nearly gone now, and they had been able to gather a few which held the ability to become one, it was a matter of training them. 

"Mina, do you think we will win." Usagi questioned her softly as they moved through the crowd. Her voice was low and the press of people never stopped their constant shift.

"I don't know, Usagi. I think that are parts are much bigger than what we think they are but we have no choice to simply keep watch for hope. It's all we can do now."

"Are we meeting with Luna today?"

"Yes. She expressed a need to speak with us. Something about the possibly finding of some clue. She says we have a visitor. Someone from earth who can help with the search. I have no idea how she knows we can trust anyone from earth but I trust her judgment so far. So we will meet this man and help him anyway we can."

"Right. Mina what happens if Luna is wrong?" Usagi questioned her tone once again soft in thought.

Mina tossed her a hard smile. "We kill him."

~*~

Kris stood and watched the two women disappear into the throng of people moving. For some reason the two of them, especially the taller one, called out to his senses. And Kris was never wrong.

And so he headed back to the temple knowing that he had let something slip through his fingers, and it ate at him. Kris blended in with his pale looks easily enough, if it was besides his height, and he gave off the impression of being someone important, he knew that as well.

Kris entered the passageway he had come in through and looked around. The Priestess he had talked with earlier was coming into the courtyard and still was a shock to see a dark haired woman among all the blond woman of this planet.

"Kris." She offered with a small smile, and he had the feeling that she knew something he did not. Her smile did not reach her eyes and she seemed to tense when she heard footsteps. 

Kris blinked when the two women, minus the basket, entered the clearing amid the torn walls of the temple. The shorter of the two women stopped and stared at him for a long time before letting out a loud, "YOU!" 

Kris smiled slightly; it appeared he was not the only one who had been spotted. "Yes Me." he said dryly.

A faint blush crossed the girl's cheeks and the taller laughed. "You will have to forgive Usagi, she gets excited easily."

Luna snorted. "That's a understatement. Mina, Usagi, this is Kris. He is from earth and is working with the rightful ruler of Earth to restore the Planets."

Both women leveled him with a look. " Endymion is alive?" Minako questioned her tone slightly shocked. It was a well-known fact that he had been killed in the first wave against the palace.

"Yes." Kris said simply, not wanting to give information to two women who he had never met before, no matter how much his contact seemed to trust them. Amusement flared in the darker blue eyes of Mina.

"Well that makes our job one step easier. If only we can find the Princess all this will be a mute point."

"But that's the problem. Something is hiding her," Luna commented. "So we have no choice but to be left in the dark in this department. That's why I called you two here to meet with Kris."

Usagi's brow wrinkled in confusion. "What do you mean."

"Kris, you must take these two with you when its time to leave. They are the only two who have the training it will take to recognize the Princess."

Mina's mouth dropped open. "What are you talking about?" She demanded her voice higher than normal.

"Leave Venus?" Usagi chorused. 

"Lady?" Kris offered to the confusion.

"Kris, if you are to have any chance you must take these two. There families have been bound to the royal family of Venus and the Moon many years now and they will recognize the Princess once they see her. But I do not think that the Venusian and Lunarian Royalty are any longer here. I believe that if you want answers you must go to Pluto for those."

"Pluto!" Mina exclaimed. "You are leading us on a wild goose chase."

Kris sighed. " I can not go there until I have met my superior officer."

Usagi cast him a glum look. "What no Prince?"

Kris shook his head. "We try not to contact him if possible. It's best if he is kept safe. No cousin is with us instead." Kris hoped they did not pick up his finely tuned lies up.

Luna shook her head. " We will discuss this later. Right now lets eat."

~*~

"He is cute?" Mina thoughtfully commented while her fingers flew over the parchment that Usagi had bought her a few hours ago.

Usagi laughed. "Is that all you think about?"

Mina looked up and winked. "No I thought about those shoulders, and the eyes, and those long eye lashes that I would kill him for, and the fact that he is leaving something out of the information that he supplied for us."

Usagi blinked. "What do you mean? Luna seems to trust him."

Mina laughed out loud at that. "Usa, Luna also trusts me with a room full of half naked men. Trust me, it is possible to slip something by the woman if you move very carefully."

Usagi rolled her eyes. " I can understand the fascination with men, but does it have to be EVER male out there?"

Mina smiled a slightly dreamy smile. Mina normally hid this part of her character to everyone but Usagi. There always had been a wild playful side to the girl, and she knew how to use her smile to what she wanted. Not classically beautiful but not plain, Mina could normally catch a mans eye if she wanted. But the hard eyes and full lips pressed thin in warning normally scarred the men. 

But they're where times when Mina let herself go. Usagi remembered a time when Mina had stayed out all night, come home with her face flushed and a smile lingering on her lips, but she never once spoke of what happened. 

"Back to Kris." Mina said with a grin. "So do you think we should go with him, to Pluto that is? Its a long trip and though it may take him some time to get the information from his so called Superiors then I have time to either get the supplies I think we will need or to make us disappear."

"Disappear?" Usagi questioned her tone amused.

"Usagi, your someone who is very special to me. A little sister almost. Remember when we started to gather information to Luna and train and you said you didn't know if you could handle the pressure? I told you then that if you ever wanted to get out of the training I would leave without a second look?" Mina impulsively grabbed Usagi hands with her own. " I promise you once again. If there is ever a moment that makes you uncomfortable then I swear I will do everything in my power to get you out. Not matter what the cost."

Usagi gripped her friend's hands and sighed. "Mina, I am willing to do whatever it takes to beat back earth. With in limit of course. I refuse to give up my meager stash of chocolate or the locket my mother gave me. Otherwise I am your girl."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Lita stood and watched the children play around the tree swing she had set up a year or so ago and allowed a small smile to grace her lips. She had founded this place only a short 5 or so years ago. Always tall for her age, Lita had always been able to pass herself of for being older than she was. 

Growing up on the streets had made her appreciate the warm beds and hot food she offered. She kept close to ten children here permanently and once a week she offered soup to another dozen. 

All the children here had been left orphans because of Beryl. Most had parents that had worked actively against the woman and there own lives where in danger. Once they grew old enough they to would set out to destroy the woman and until then Lita offered then a warm bed, a warm meal, and hand to hand training. Her own teacher had been killed some years before, but Lita had always had a knack for teaching and did so with glee. 

Today was a normal day for Jupiter, the sky was rolling with the threat of a storm and the air held a tingle of magic that threatened rain. Lita smiled to herself. She loved these days. 

She looked toward the door when one of the younger girls came running in her dark hair was wild and her brown eyes huge. " Miss Lita, there is a man outside. He is hurt bad." The girl grabbed her beloved Miss Lita's hand dragged her out the door.

Lita followed and blinked at what she saw. It was an oak of a man. His legs looked ever longer than hers did and he appeared to be badly injured. Two lanky 15-year-old boys stood next to him looking at her for instructions. Lita wiped her flour-covered hands on her pants and sighed. 

"Jake, Jason, "She looked at the two identical twin boys and shook her head. "You two take his legs, be careful, if he has any broken ribs we could compound them. I will take his front."

Together with lots of groans and almost dropping him several times they got him into the house and onto the main couch. With in minuets the children had everything she needed assembled and the place was cleared out. 

Lita looked at the man who she was fixing to clean up and sighed. His face was covered in few days growth and his eyes where closed. His face was all angles but besides that he was possible the most attractive man, or at least he had a nice nose and forehead. She would have to wait until he shaved to see the whole picture. His hair fell to his shoulders in a dark auburn curtain that was splayed all over her couch.

Lita sighed and began the process of checking him over for wounds and cleaning out each cut and keeping it from becoming even more inflamed. Some time later she walked into the kitchen and dropped into a chair. 

One of the older children handed her a cup of tea and Lita smiled her appreciation. 

"Is he going to be okay?" Jake questioned sitting down at her feet like a child.

"Yah and is he on our side?" His mirror image questioned also sitting at her feet.

" I don't know. I do know that he won't be a threat to us for some even if he is Earth soldier. He has some pretty nasty injuries." Lita responded.

Jason grinned at his twin. " I bet you could take him Miss Lita." 

Lita grinned wryly. " I am not sure about that. He is a lot bigger than I am."

" I thought you said size does not matter." A girl, Kita, whose mother had been executed for treason to Beryl, questioned.

Lita grinned impishly. "Oh size rarely does matter. But it would be a long bloody battle if we both had decent weapons, and I really don't relish the thought of trying to tackle that man. He is built like an oak. Of course there is always using his height to his disadvantage, but he looks like he has been drilled for a long time. Did you notice both his muscle build and the calluses on his hands? Those are markings of someone who is used to weapons." She held up her own long fingered hands. They had softened in the year or so it had been since she had held a staff but they still showed.

The children nodded and Lita smiled. "Now run along with your and get the little ones into bed. I will keep watch tonight."


End file.
